This invention generally relates to the computer user interface technologies.
Conventionally, most computers systems that have a display exhibit one of several behaviors when they crash, i.e. reach an abnormal condition. To name a few examples, the crashed (or down) computer system (1) clears the screen and replaces it with a useful message; (2) attempts to display a pop up dialog box concerning the crash; (3) resets; or (4) maintains a locked state, making the system useless, with no other clues to the user about what happened.
Each of these methods has certain disadvantages. With regard to example (2) above, since the computer system has effectively crashed, the system might not be able to properly generate or display new windows or dialog boxes. In examples (3) and (4), the user is not sure what just happened, and no further useful information is conveyed. In examples (1), (2), and (3), some or all of the information on the screen is lost, and there may be critical data that the user is concerned with, and this might be the last chance for the user to read this data.